Promotion in motion: Creating mobile ads that hit the target

Economists and consumers alike continue to debate whether or not the Great Recession is officially in the rearview mirror, but one thing is clear: Advertisers are once again spending money like drunken sailors, suggesting the worst is indeed over. After global advertising expenditures dipped 9 percent in 2009, the segment bounced back last year, posting a 10.6 percent year-on-year increase to $503 billion according to Nielsen. While budgets remain focused on traditional channels like television, magazines and radio, marketers are paying increasing attention to the mobile platform as well, with AccuStream Research reporting that advertisers spent $794 million on mobile campaigns in 2010, translating to 340 billion impressions across mobile ad networks worldwide.

"Mobile is not just a channel for brand awareness, or coupons, or for getting people into your store--it's all of those things, and it's whatever you need it to be," says Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing with mobile advertising network Millennial Media. "The savviest advertisers have been doing this for a couple years now, and their lessons and successes are driving other brands onto the platform. We're seeing mobile budgets of $100,000 and up increase 340 percent year-over-year."

Now that the question is no longer when or even if advertisers will embrace the mobile opportunity, the focus is instead shifting to how to most effectively communicate brand messages to a consumer demographic in motion. "The key to success is understanding the medium and the unique capabilities it possesses," says Paran Johar, mobile ad network Jumptap's chief marketing officer. "Mobile is an incredibly personal medium. It's about lean-in, active content consumption. Users crave relevant messaging."

The entertainment industry consistently ranks among the verticals leading on mobile ad spending, and Hollywood is spearheading the channel's creative renaissance as well. Johar notes the success of last summer's rich media campaign promoting HBO's hit vampire series True Blood. The promo, developed by Omnicom Media Group subsidiary PHD in association with mobile ad platform Medialets, yielded bloody fingerprints when the user touched their smartphone before giving way to a three-dimensional cascade of blood spilling across the entire screen, revealing the show's "Do Bad Things" tagline and one-tap access to a video preview. More than 5.1 million viewers eventually tuned into True Blood's June 13 third season premiere, up 38 percent over the second season debut.

"The True Blood ad is a perfect example of great creative execution," Johar says. "The use of rich media in mobile advertising is still at an early stage, but the ability to engage users with dynamic ads is driving a lot of success."

Another Hollywood hit: A worldwide campaign touting the theatrical release of stunt and prank extravaganza Jackass 3D, developed by Paramount Pictures in partnership with Millennial Media and global media agency MEC.

Alongside expandable rich media ad units and a mobile site including ticket sales, trailers and photos, the promotion featured "Whack-A-Jackass," an interactive mobile game inspired by arcade fixture Whac-A-Mole complete with Facebook score sharing. Jackass 3D earned an impressive $50 million in its opening weekend and generated over $115 million at the U.S. box office during its first two months in release; Millennial Media adds that users replayed "Whack-A-Jackass" more than a third of the time.

"The Jackass franchise has extremely passionate fans," McKelvey says. "Paramount wanted to create a rich, in-brand mobile experience, and they wanted to do it globally. We saw ridiculous engagement--the social sharing components really took off."

As some mobile advertisers go global, others are thinking locally, developing campaigns that pinpoint consumers according to their physical location, time of day and other related factors pointing to enhanced user interest. "There's no better way to target an audience than when they're out and about, mobile device in hand and looking for something," says Dan Gilmartin, vice president of marketing with location media firm Where. "Not only is location a vital element, but when you bring in other data that's relevant to the consumer, you can deliver a user experience that's really compelling."

Case in point: This winter, Where teamed with Cadbury for a campaign spotlighting the consumer packaged goods giant's Halls Cough Drops brand, delivering mobile ads targeting regions with nearby CVS, Walgreens and Walmart stores selling the cough suppressant. Where further honed the promotion by integrating Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu index data to target consumers in areas with high instances of illness.

"Where the flu index spiked, we heavied up on the Halls ads," Gilmartin says. "And we did it all in real time."

Another recent Where campaign paired the firm with Turner Sports, which this year teamed with CBS Sports to broadcast the complete schedule of games in the annual NCAA Men's Basketball Championship tournament. "We created a dynamic market that we served to markets where March Madness teams were playing and included real-time scores of games in progress," Gilmartin says. "We're using location as [an] element that filters our capability to deliver the content that's most relevant to consumers."

That kind of hyper-targeted advertising is what sets the mobile platform apart from rival marketing channels--the most ingenious and interactive campaigns deliver a meaningful level of user engagement unmatched across the media landscape. The best mobile ads also establish consumer expectations that render simpler and impersonal promotions virtually irrelevant, Johar says. "Context is key, so spam advertising doesn't work," Johar explains. "Advertisers can't simply buy inexpensive media and run it everywhere. Consumers are tuning that out."

Which is why the ongoing creative growth and commercial success of mobile advertising depends on the industry working closely with Madison Avenue to expand the channel's parameters, McKelvey says. "Brands look to ad agencies for direction, and there are some very senior people in agencies who get it, but we have to continue to educate media planners on what's possible," she says. "There are so many things that set mobile advertising apart. We're all consumers, we all have mobile devices, and we all spend so much time on our phones. If you have a consumer-focused business, mobile should be a part of your advertising."